Property
market
healthy ‘but failing
start-ups’

A recent Lambert Smith Hampton report showed office investment in the regions climbed 22 per cent last year, and the North – rather than London and the South East – is showing the strongest growth.

In Leeds city centre alone, construction began on almost half a million square feet of new offices. And Steve Folwell, managing director of Lovespace, said with the highest level of investment flooding into UK office-building since 2007, businesses will benefit from the surge in commercial property investment.

But he said: “None of the new developments in the centre of Leeds will be completed until next year, leaving small businesses to compete for prime office space and driving costs up to a new headline this year of £27 per square foot per annum.

“Evidence shows that the growth in commercial property investment lags behind the number of start-ups and small businesses registering with Companies House, currently rising at a record level with 760,000 new small firms registered since 2010.”

He said that to manage this resultant demand, flexible working, open plan offices and co-working spaces have all entered the mainstream. To find solutions to the high costs and the shortage of space, businesses now look to digital platforms to find alternative work spaces.